1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to emergency apparatus in general and in particular to a method and apparatus for providing compressed air to distributed stations in a building or other structure for use by emergency personnel, such as firefighters, to refill their self-contained breathing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Upper floor highrise fire fighting and rescue work is normally performed from within the inside of a building due to the limitations of equipment operating on the ground. Firefighters fighting a fire and rescue workers working in other noxious atmospheres generally rely on portable, self-contained breathing apparatus to provide breathing air. Such apparatus typically comprises a high pressure cylinder filled with air at from 2200 psi up to 4500 psi. The self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) typically weighs 20-30 pounds and is designed to provide air for 15-30 minutes.
When a firefighter arrives at the scene of a highrise fire, for example, the firefighter suits up with heavy protective clothing and typically starts with a full SCBA. The firefighter must then climb to the location of the fire, often using just the stairs (elevators can be unreliable and dangerous during a fire). Even in the best of shape, the firefighter is panting for air by the time he or she reaches the fourth or fifth floor of the building. When the firefighter reaches the fire, which could be on one of the upper floors in a multi-story building, he or she may have to start using their SCBA. If this is necessary, it is all too common that within ten minutes or so, the SCBA is down to its reserve pressure and, until now, the person must return to the ground for a new SCBA cylinder. To avoid the resulting loss of time fighting the fire, often runners will be used to bring full cylinders to a staging area normally located one or two floors below the fire floor and return the empty cylinders to the ground. There, a portable compressor brought to the scene by the fire department is used to recharge the empty cylinders with new, clean air.
Another technique which has been used in the past is to have storerooms filled with spare air cylinders in various locations in the highrise. In either case, the use of runners or the use of spare cylinders are costly and very inefficient processes and severely handicap the ability of the firefighters to save lives and property.
Each highrise building, in addition to its elevators, comprises stairwells interconnecting each of the floors. Within the stairwell or a wall of the building it has been the practice to install a water standpipe. Located on each of the floors and coupled to the standpipe is a valve and outlet to which a firefighter can connect a fire hose for use in fighting a fire on that floor. Despite the fact that it has been the practice for many years to provide an adequate supply of water to each floor in a multi-story building for use in fighting fires thereon, and despite the fact that a long-felt need for refilling self-contained breathing apparatus in such situations has existed, it does not appear that anyone heretofore has provided an efficient method or apparatus for supplying compressed air to each of the floors to further assist firefighters to fight fires thereon.
What has been said above about the need for supplying air to stations on floors in a building applies with equal force in other structures, such as subways, mines and the like. In recent years there have been a number of incidents of fires in a subway which have required the use of SCBA by emergency personnel. All too often, however, the lack of a readily available apparatus to refill the SCBA seriously interfered with the rescue operations.